Polish Robot Coaxes Expressiveness Out of Weird Design

We're always impressed by how much expressiveness and emotion can be squeezed out of even the simplest robot faces if they're cleverly done, and Emys (for "emotive head system"), a robot from the Wroclaw University of Technology in Poland, is a fantastic example. Just watch:

Yeah, I didn't entirely get all that either, but that "surprise" face is priceless. For a less, um, dramatic run-through of all of the expressions that Emys can make, there's another video here.

Emys is part of the LIREC Project, which is a European research project that's "exploring how to design digital and interactive companions who can develop and read emotions and act cross-platform." In short, they're trying to figure out how to make robots a little more fun to hang out with, by giving them some tools to tell how you're feeling, and giving you an expressive face (of sorts) to look at.

This disembodied head also comes with a fancy wheeled Segway-style body called FLASH, and there's even an arm. Just one arm, yeah, but that's enough to shake hands and give a thumbs-up, and who could want anything more than that?